Looking after a home near the sea

Our Healys Brighton housing solicitors have much the same job as the team in London, but the people they help with the legal side of moving out of one home and into another will have different factors to deal with when it comes to looking after their property.

Over the years, houses age. Whether they are already listed buildings, or were built just months prior to being bought, proprietors are likely to have to undertake maintenance as time passes.

However, the things that houses might need done to them to keep them in a good condition will vary depending on the type of property, when it was built, and where it is built.

Humans and the sea

Many people choose to live by the sea – in fact human beings have decided to live by water for millennia. For centuries it has provided food, made homes easier to defend from invasion from land, and brought trade wealth to those who inhabited the area.

The mystery of what lay beyond the sea and in it led to Gods, strange mythical beings, and whole alien worlds being created by our ancestors’ imaginations.

As well as this, in our more recent history the sea has inspired countless artists and writers, and provides beautiful and dramatic scenery to all who look out to the horizon.

But there is always a compromise to be made wherever you chose to settle down.

Living by the coast – the effects on a home

Having a home near the sea comes at a cost. Depending on where a property is situated, it might be at risk of becoming a victim of coastal erosion within the next few decades. Many people in the last few years have had to leave their homes and watch them crumble into the sea which had attracted them to the coast in the first place.

The Environment Agency states that about 28% of Britain’s coastline erodes by more than 10 centimetres annually. Yet in some places erosion takes place much quicker, for example some places lose an average of 1.8 metres per year. Rates of erosion vary, but so long as the UK is surrounded by sea, it will continue.

The next factor to take into account when purchasing a coastal home, is the salty air. For many this is refreshing and enjoyable, but it will lead to metal and many other materials corroding and generally wearing away faster than they would in a less salty atmosphere.

So, owners of seaside properties might have to replace metal pipe-work, repaint exterior walls, and treat (as well as restore) wooden parts of their home more often.

Lastly, coastal homes can be at especially high risk from strong winds. Houses all across the UK can suffer wind damage, but, on the coast, where the wind is fresh off the sea and has nothing in its way to slow it down, storms can be particularly violent.

Contacting Brighton housing solicitors

Despite the factors that owners of coastal homes might have to deal with, the positives of living near the sea largely outweigh the negatives.

For example, one of the positives is that the Healys professional residential conveyancing solicitors are on hand a stone’s throw from the Royal Pavilion.

With our expert knowledge of the area and the connections we have made with other local experts in the business, we are ideally placed to offer our services to those who wish to make the move into Brighton and the surrounding towns.

Please contact us today to find out more about our services.